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Topic: after swarm (Read 467 times)

I am learning more about swarms than I want to....hive swarmed on the 26th....and again today...started out as a nice sized orientation flight and kept on going...right to the top of the tallest tree near the hive. Looks like a good sized swarm...cant believe I still have any bees.

The frames I removed have to be in the freezer until tomorrow. I was going to do another check and remove 3 more frames of honey and put those back in....may still do it.

I hope there are enough bees to keep the wax moths out of the hive.

The frames in the freezer have been in there for over 48 hrs ...is that long enough to kill any pests? I could suit up and do it now.

I really only plan on having one hive....(two if the swarm takes up residence in the empty hive)...so swarming will become normal. My main concern is: will they swarm to the point that the hive cannot survive? There are some hive beetles...killed most or many. The one brood frame that I moved looked fine....but if it is necessary to check each frame I will do it tomorrow.

So there is the after swarm I spoke of in your old post reply 3. Where I mentioned pulling a frame with cells and starting a nuc to have a back-up queen. That is why I was recommending inspecting the other frames.

>I really only plan on having one hive....No such thing :-D Always plan on two anyway for comparison purposes. And you always need an empty set up on hand for swarms and a couple 5 frame nucs to pull them extra cells to prevent swarms/ after swarms and keep queens on hand.

If you don't need them you can give them to new beeks or let the nucs build up and sell them.

Sometimes a swarm will go in an empty old hive nearby, It usually needs old comb and not new or foundationless. Also some lemon grass oil helps and place it a distance away from the hive from which it swarmed, Do a search on swarm traps.